"We have held a job fair twice a year in April and October since 2008," said Steve Greenwell, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Lorain County.

The 370 prospective employees interacted with 32 businesses representing a variety of fields.

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"There are a lot of industries represented," Greenwell said. "We had businesses involved with manufacturing, retail, sales, hospitality and construction, along with many other fields, here."

The job fairs usually boast an attendance of 300 to 400 people. However, there have been times when the number of attendees has been more than 1,000, Greenwell said.

Greenwell said he does not like to focus on the number of people attending. Rather, he wants to focus on continuing the mission of Goodwill.

"We want to help people with obstacles for employment," Greenwell said. "We want to simply help people find jobs and help them to become more productive and independent citizens."

Greenwell said that the job fairs have a decent amount of success. While it is hard to determine the exact amount of people who receive jobs through the fair, Greenwell commented that the number usually ends up at around 10 percent.

"If we are getting an average of 300 to 400 people per fair, that means that we are getting people roughly 30 to 40 jobs," Greenwell said.

Two men found themselves hired by Bohannon Painting and Restoration within 10 minutes of walking into the building, a Goodwill representative said.

Greenwell also mentioned that, while some people do receive jobs on the spot at the fair, it is difficult to track how many people get jobs within a couple of weeks.

Job fairs are only one way in which Goodwill helps individuals in the community to find jobs, Greenwell stated.

"We offer industrial services that includes light assembly, which creates jobs," Greenwell said. "We also do job training programs and various county partnerships."

Another more recent invention by Goodwill is the formulation of a job club. According to Greenwell, the club is a walk-in service where people can get help with writing a resume, practicing interview skills and learning various strategies for job applications.

"We are trying to help educate and train people," Greenwell said. "This is just one more way to bring people together and help to live out our mission."

For more information or to join any of Goodwill's various activities, call 244-3174.